Prince of Shadows
by DashingHeights
Summary: Maddox isn't ready for this.


Prince of Shadows: Chapter One

_"What else can he be seen as, but a Dark Prince? A child, yes. As a child, he sees not what matters most, but what matters least. And sometimes, it is what matters least that nurtures that which matters most. This is what we seek. A gentle caress in our hearts, one only a child could give. He is young, and perhaps naive, but he will learn. He will have to. None of us can bear his burden; he is alone."_

You wouldn't be able to see it, but it's there. A great structure, regal in essence and design. From above, he looked over the side of the balcony, tilting his head to inspect the defining line between where you could see the wall -the inside- and where it was invisible. From this angle, he was standing on nothing. In fact, he wasn't there at all. He lifted his gaze out over the churning water beneath him, a barren lake to most, and wondered if he appeared as only a torso from the shore. The thought of people seeing him as only a torso made a deep chuckle surface in his throat; the image of himself without legs, waving and smiling, made him laugh. Warm laughter, resonating from within his barrel chest. It was low pitched and had an instrumental beauty to it, much like a baritone.

His softly pointed ears swivelled back as the door opened and he turned his head to see a young girl with bright orange eyes; the kind of bright that was so intense a color, fire was not reflected in it. Most peculiar, perhaps, was her hair. Blue-grey and spikey, sticking out at random angles yet somehow still flattering to the shape of her face and figure. Though, right now it was pulled up in an attempted french braid. It was easy to see how this style would be difficult to accomplish with her locks. It was still an utter mess, strands rebelling against the rest of it and shooting out to the world wide unknown.

When she saw his entertained expression, she slapped her hand over her mouth to hide a giggle. "You just amuse yourself, don't you, Maddy?" She crossed the room silently to ruffle his scruffy, dark brown hair, soft and silky to the touch. It fell perfectly back into place, even after her abuse, but it still wasn't enough to hide his enormous ears. She too had pointy ears, but they were nowhere near as big as his, nor could they hear as far. Of course, he was quite a bit bigger than her. For a female of her age, she was tall -five feet, eight inches- but she was still teeny compared to him.

Despite being incredibly child-like, and young in his true age, Maddox stood at six feet, five inches tall without shoes on. He never wore shoes, anyway, neither did she. "I was just wondering if they can see us," he said to her, gesturing to the opposite bank with his whole arm. Her eyes rolled, "Yeah, okay." She looked back at the rest of the room, folding her arms over her chest as her ears dropped and a distraught expression flickered across her features. "They're almost ready for you. Are you sure you can do this?"

The atmosphere grew heavy with his decision. _Me, am I sure I can do this?_ he asked himself. "No." He finally answered her, leaning against the railing and licking his lips. "I mean, I understand that they think they need me.. But do they really, Rowan? Why me?" Rowan shook her head, fidgeting with her shirt and staring at her bare toes. "Because you're the only heir, Maddox. You saw how strict they are; they won't accept anyone else.

"But the king and queen... I mean, my parents.." Maddox trailed off, still having an issue accepting the fact that he could refer to the rulers of possibly half the country as his immediate family. He didn't want to. "They're still in power, the people don't need me. Why bother coming to find me now? They didn't care fifteen years ago when they left me, on not even a doorstep." His hands clenched into fists as he squeezed his eyes shut.

This whole journey had been amazing. The castle they were standing in now was amazing, but he just couldn't push past the fact that these people, who he didn't even know existed until a few months ago, thought it was okay to drop this bombshell on him when they abandoned him the first time. His eyes began to water as he opened them, making his startlingly sea green irises literally look like the sea. Like his ears, his eyes were also abnormally large yet complimenting to his face. Rowan pressed her forehead to his shoulder, sighing under her breath without an answer.

"Maddox," came another voice, this one thickly saturated with foreign roots and unmistakable. "You're on, Big Guy. You should see the dinner they've got for afterwards, Jesus Christ. These guys don't play around." Both Rowan and Maddox turned to face the bedroom door. Neither could help but smile at Wanderer's obvious excitement. Maddox had thought she would at least dress up for this, but she still wore the same thing she always did: black pants with a dark purple tee, black fingerless gloves and boots, and a trench coat on top of everything else. She probably had her favorite old Luger stashed somewhere on her body. If he had asked where, she would've told him to find it. It was safer to just assume she had it.

Maddox nodded and rolled his shoulders back, inhaling deeply and looking down at Rowan from the corner of his eye. "Thank you, Wanderer," he mumbled as they joined her at the exit, having to look down even further. Being the most egotistical and maniacal out of their odd assembled group, Wanderer was also shortest, standing two inches below Rowan, even with boots on. She snorted and whipped around on her heels, rushing back down the hall with her coat billowing behind her.

It wasn't long before Maddox understood what Wanderer meant when she was talking about the food; staring around with wide eyes and raised eyebrows as he walked into the main hall. There were three tables lining the walls facing the short flight of stairs. From the ceiling hung ribbons and chandeliers in shades of purple, black, and blue. Unlike most kingdoms, there were no knights or guards of any kind in this one. None of these people needed protecting. They could easily take care of themselves. It was very unlikely that anyone would stumble across this place, anyway.

Despite being nervous, he was transfixed by the decorations, walking to stand in the middle of the small groups of minglers to stare at them. He leaned over to someone nearby and grinned while keeping his eyes on the ceiling. "What, no green?" he chuckled, only joking because his favorite color was green. The bystander turned to look at him with a quizzical expression, then almost spit up what he was drinking when he saw him, eyes darting around like he didn't know how to answer. Maddox's smile faltered at this, and his shoulders slumped when the guy still didn't answer after a moment or two. "Forget it." He muttered, heading over to one wall and looking around for where he was suppose to be going.

He didn't know how this was going to work or what they were going to do; where he was suppose to be or who to talk to. He must've looked lost, too, as a woman tapped him on the shoulder and directed him to the back room across from the one he came in through. At least, he thought it was a woman. Not everyone here was in a distinguishable form. His species could look like anything they wanted to, even if they thought it up themselves. They were shadows, for lack of a better word; nothing more. And there were some very creative shadow kin in here.

He mumbled his thanks as he shuffled back out of the hall, glad that someone was there waiting for him, even if it was his suppose-to-be advisor. "Hey, Renedah." He greeted her, waving slightly and half smiling. Rinnie dipped her head to him and took his hand, leading him down the hallway. "I told you to call me Rinnie, Marridox." She spoke pointedly, using his full name since he'd used hers. He chuckled faintly. "Okay, fair enough."

He knew for certain that Rinnie was female. She was a knoxen, as the rainbow of her hair strongly advertised, and knoxen could only be female. She was his guardian, bound to him long before he was even born; a guardian bird. The complete opposite of shadow kin. While shadows could have any form - even no form - knoxen had two fixed forms that they could possess. What the non bird body was depended on where they were hatched.

Unlike Maddox, Rinnie was a vessel of pure light energy; he was a power well of dark aura. At least, that's what they told him. It was all very new to him still; he'd only been here for a few nights. "They had to refit the crown to your fat head," she teased him, sensing that he wasn't feeling too great and attempting to lighten the mood. "Did they really?" he asked half-heartedly, almost feeling bad that they went through the trouble. Rinnie punched him in the arm, stopping just outside an archway that led onto the short flight of stairs where the tables faced. "Of course not. It's shadow kin made. It'll fit any of you."

He should've known this, but he wasn't all there at the moment, feeling queasier the closer the time came. He wasn't afraid of crowds. He could stand naked in the middle of one, if he had to, but the idea of this kind of attention and the thought that everyone knew him, even if he didn't know them, was frightening. "What am I suppose to do, Rinnie?"

He looked down at her with glazed eyes, squeezing her hand rather tightly. She ignored it, allowing him that little comfort for now. "Nothing. Just sit there and look pretty. You're good at that." She leaned around the corner, apparently looking for something specific -a sign perhaps, or signal. Once she found whatever her quest was for, she hauled him around the wall and through the arch. Well, tried to. He was too heavy for her to move, but after the initial tug he moved himself.

It didn't look like he thought it would from up there. The subjects weren't lined up on chairs, wearing tunics and robes and dresses. No, everyone seemed very relaxed and excited for this. It was more like a casual house warming than a formal ceremony. If that was even what it was; he still didn't know. He began to wonder if he'd meet his parents, psyching himself out even more.

Rinnie sat him down in a large, stone throne. Large even to him, but he still fit comfortably. Only the back was too big for him. She moved off to the side as someone else came out; someone he'd never seen before, with the beginning of a grey beard and greying hair, silver spectacles. He had a book with him and an urban ballpoint pen, which amused Maddox.

He let out a faint chuckle, watching the guy walk up to him and attempt to hold the book open in one hand while scrawling something with the other. "He's got a pen," he whispered to Rinnie, laughing quietly to himself. She looked down at him and raised an eyebrow, laughing along only because she thought it was funny that he was entertained by that. "Yeah." It was more like she was asking a question than making a statement. "Were you expecting a quill?"

Maddox didn't have time to answer as the gentleman reached them, setting the book down with a thump on the arm of the throne. "Sorry," he muttered, catching his breath. He was obviously rushed to get here. Maybe he'd been running late. "Okay. What's your name?" He looked at Maddox over his glasses, hovering the pen above the page. Maddox blinked and tipped his head, clasping his hands in his laps. "Maddox," he said simply, wondering if it was all really that was needed. Apparently not, the man paused just before he was about to write something and coughed. "Full name."

Maddox's ears flushed with color as the crowd tittered at him. "Wh-What?" he said, doing his best to ignore them. "Your full name. You know, if I told you my name was Jerry Smith, what would you introduce yourself as?" The guy gestured to himself first, then back at Maddox and waited expectantly. But Maddox still didn't understand, mostly because his brain was too frightened to work right. "M-... Maddox.." he whispered quietly, shrinking in his seat.

The older man rolled his eyes up at the ceiling as the audience laughed harder, holding up a hand for them to shut up. "No, your full name. First, middle, and last, what's your full name, Kid?"

"I don't know." Maddox whined in a surprisingly high voice for what his normal pitch would suggest his range was. Awes could be heard from bits of the group as his eyes filled with salty tears. He was beginning to buckle under the pressure, now completely terrified. Rinnie sensed this and walked around the back of the throne to talk to the guy. "His name is Marridox Shiva Clemente." She said so everyone could hear her. He looked up at her with a grateful and simultaneously curious gaze. "Wow, really?" This earned another laugh from the crowd, increasingly making him feel like he was in a sitcom.

The gentleman didn't seem to notice, nodding to Rinnie before looking back at Maddox. "And you are how old?" Again, she answered for him, but this time before he could say anything. "Almost four." She said as she glanced down at him. He was confused at first but then realized he was asking his real age; in human years he was almost sixteen, but shadow kin aged at a fourth that rate. "Thank you," the guy said to Rinnie, closing the book and setting it down beside the throne. "Alright. Are you ready, big guy?" He leaned down to Maddox, coaxing him back up to a sitting position while using his apparent, universal nickname. Everyone called him 'big guy.'

He pushed himself back up to sit properly in the throne, nodding at the man and twiddling his thumbs, wondering what his crown would even look like. His crown. So weird for him to think about. He watched inquisitively as the guy reached around the back of the throne and picked it up off a cushion. Also not what Maddox had expected, figuring there'd be a march or fanfare or something.

What was held in front of his face was the strangest thing he'd ever seen. It was a crown alright, with the traditional circular bottom, but it had things like wavy spikes coming off of it; some of them were bubbles, like it had been left out to drip-dry and froze in the middle of the process. It also gave off a faint glow, just like the currency coins did. And the ends had spindles of what looked like smoke rising from them.

"Do you want to put it on, or do you want me to?" The gentlemen asked, smirking at his expression. His eyes had become larger than normal with his pupils dilated, his ears focused forward so far that they ached. It gave him a puppy sort of look. "You can do it.." He muttered, still staring at the crown. The guy nodded, standing up straight and moving infront of him, then reaching out to ruffle Maddox's hair. "You're going to be okay," he said, smiling. And, surprisingly, it made him feel better. He closed his eyes once more after glancing up to watch the descending piece of artwork, breathing out slowly.

Out in the courtyard, after a wild party that had many stumbling drunk, Maddox walked with Rowan on his left and Rinnie on his right. He too had been drinking, and his crown was a bit crooked, but he wasn't quite drunk.

It was dark out, billions of stars dotting the indigo sky, and the moon reflecting brilliantly off the incandescent castle; it seemed bigger here. Or maybe it was all in his head. It was light enough out that shadows were cast on the ground in front of them. In front of Rinnie and Rowan, anyway. Maddox glanced at the pair of shadows on the ground. In that depiction, they walked a wide ways apart, with nothing to separate them but thin air. This always made Maddox feel a little cut off. He could be there with them, and everyone else, but to the earth he all but existed. It was very strange, especially growing up with Rowan.

'Why don't you have a shadow, Maddy?' She would ask him. Being as this was before he knew where he came from, it scared him. Just one of those little things. The memory, the confusion, the fear was all very clear, every time he didn't see the shadow he didn't have. _At least I can see myself in a mirror_, he thought, but it still made him uneasy.

A shadow was to prove your place on the earth. One could look at a shadow and see whatever they wanted to see, but with Maddox a shadow was all they'd ever lay eyes on. It just seemed so much more significant than a reflection.

"What's eating you, Maddy?" Rowan interrupted his thoughts, taking his hand in hers and swinging their arms gently. Maddox shook his head, giving her the best smile he could muster. "Nothing, really. It's silly." He looked up at the tower they shambled next to, black tassels waving delicately in the warm breeze.

It was obvious that Rowan didn't believe him, exchanging a glance with Rinnie that pointed the question at her instead. "Do you know how to tell a shadow kin from everyone else, Rowan?" She asked pointedly, clearing her throat in an attempt to change the subject. Maddox winced inwardly at this, as if Renedah unintentionally read his thoughts. Rowan shook her head, blinking fiery orange eyes that could almost rival Maddox's in luster. "Well, why are they called shadow kin in the first place?"

"Um.. Because they're shadows?"

"For lack of a better word, yes."

Rinnie looped her arm around Maddox's so they were both tethered to him. He seemed to be drifting and his gait began to wobble some. "They are shadows, so they don't cast a shadow." She gestured to the ground at his feet, where all that shown was rippling grass, as if he wasn't there at all. Rowan nodded silently, gazing around without real understanding.

Eyes growing heavy, Maddox side-stepped by accident and tripped over himself, pinwheeling his arms to stay upright and yanking both girls with him. If not for their extra weight, he might have kept his balance, but all three of them tumbled forward. Rinnie managed to land on her side, but Rowan face planted in the dirt; Maddox jarred his elbow, which had been jerked from Rinnie's grasp to break his fall. There was a short yelp of surprise from him, and muffled cursing from Rowan. Rinnie was laughing, pushing herself back to her feet and shaking her head. "I think somebody needs sleep." She raised her eyebrow at Maddox, half smirking.

Rowan rolled over onto her back and raised her thumb in the air, glaring half-heartedly at her friend from the corner of her eye. "Do you want to take him, or should I? One of us has to tell the party where he's gone." Shrugging, Rinnie knelt beside him and ruffled his hair. He'd resituated to sit on his butt, hands placed on either side of him with a hurt expression on his face.

"I can take myself. I don't need an escort." He moved his head out of Rinnie's reach and climbed shakily to his feet, stumbling his first few steps but quickly regaining his balance. He hadn't meant to sound rude, but he was tired and sad. All that had happened in the past few days was a lot for him to digest, and tonight had been overwhelming with noise and new faces. Rowan pursed her lips, looking down at her knees. "We treat him like a baby."

"He is a baby," Rinnie growled, clearly annoyed by his objection. She dusted her hands off and turned in the opposite direction from which he departed, holding her hands balled in fists at her sides. Rowan cocked an eyebrow at her, not thinking his action to be deserving of hostility. She'd always thought Rinnie was an odd case, though. She seemed almost borderline in her emotions; unpredictable in her reactions.


End file.
